Constructing careers with AI: a study on the career sustainability of China’s Generation Z youth from a HRD perspective

Based on social cognitive career theory, situated learning theory and career construction theory, this study constructs a moderated mediation effect model, aiming to explore the mechanism and contextual conditions through which AI empowers career sustainability for Generation Z youth. The results of a survey of 524 Chinese Generation Z youth show that AI technology application positively influences the career sustainability through both new-quality employability and job transition pathways. Developmental human resource management positively moderates the dual mediating effects of new-quality employability and job transition. This study shifts the discourse on the relationship between artificial intelligence and youth career development from the macro levels of policy and organisational management to the micro levels of individual career construction, capability development, and behavioural adaptation. It advances the integration of HRD theory within the digital era and the context of Eastern culture, offering practical insights and theoretical implications from the Chinese context for fostering inclusive development among diverse labour forces amid global technological transformation.